day 223: organization—personal organizational strategies: the abc’s of organizing tasks

I have been describing the process of creating a “daily” work list and a “weekly” work list to ensure that the things that need done on a constant basis get finished. Today I would like to introduce another organizing strategy that is not an uncommon one—and is one that works well for executives and housewives alike: the abc’s of getting things done.


Once my children started getting older and helping with household chores more and more and my littles started becoming “biggies,” which meant there were not so many little ones with so many needs, I found that I could actually branch out to other things---PROJECTS!!!


Then I adopted the abc’s of task organization. In addition to my “daily and weekly lists,” I had other things that were specific to that week that needed done—prepare for a family get together, order curriculum, plan for the school year, set up a field trip, mega cooking (freezer meal preparation), seasonal cleaning and organization, etc.


Each week I would create a list of things that I wanted to get done besides my constances. Then I would place a letter before each task:


A—really needs done this week


B—would be nice to get to this one


C—not happening but it’s fun to write it on the list!


Many years later, I still do this—I do it for our ministry, my tutoring service, my writing/editing, school, household, everything. I know that things with deadlines that week must have A’s in front of them—and must be done that week. B’s, of course, would be nice to get to, but sometimes they just do not happen. C’s, well, I don’t really do C’s!


Anything left on this week’s list gets moved to next week’s list—and a higher priority letter usually gets assigned to them.


This method solved the problem of my endless “to do lists.” I could write as many things on that list each week that I wanted to—I would prioritize the entire list with abc’s, and it would be just fine when I didn’t get to some of them (or many of them).


When I look at my “to do” list, I know to look for the A’s—and dig in. I know that I must get those done before moving onto B’s. I know that these are true priorities for this week. I do not look at an endless list of things to do that I cannot complete. Truly, organizing can be as easy as a-b-c!! Smile….